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Nuggets' McGee still an enigma

Center averaging 10 points in limited playing time

By Christopher Dempsey The Denver Post

Posted:
01/19/2013 11:13:09 PM MST

Updated:
01/19/2013 11:13:37 PM MST

After so many moments of hilarity, so many blooper videos, laughs and jokes, on last May 8 the comedic TNT analyst trio of Kenny Smith, Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley was finally forced to dish out praise.

The subject: Nuggets center JaVale McGee.

"This is the first time I've seen a 7-footer beat the Lakers' big men, (Pau) Gasol and (Andrew) Bynum, down the court," Smith said. "That doesn't happen in another series."

Barkley: "He's like Dwight Howard. They are the only two 7-foot guys who can jump like that."

That was after Game 5 of the Nuggets' first-round playoff series against the Lakers last spring when, in a sea of dunks, McGee torched L.A. for 21 points and 14 rebounds in a victory seen nationwide. On that night, it was if he had arrived, finally free of a bad situation in Washington and ready to grow into the star talent so many think he can be.

Fast forward to today, when McGee stands as the Nuggets' tallest enigma. He has a wingspan of 7 feet, 6½ inches and a 31½-inch vertical leap. He is a highlight reel waiting to happen -- and that means both "SportsCenter's" top 10 plays and TNT's Shaqtin' a Fool.

Fans want to see more of him. Nuggets coaches do too, just not right now.

"He played about 20 minutes per game last year," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "I think right now we'd like to get him to be a 25-minute-per-game player. And I think that's feasible."

Denver acquired McGee in a trade last March with the Washington Wizards.

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After two months of tantalizing play, he was awarded a four-year, $44 million contract last summer based largely on potential, which he demonstrated against the Lakers, and the notion that size, shot-blocking ability and athleticism can't be taught. McGee and the Nuggets would have to work to fill in the other blanks in his game.

Halfway through his first full season in Denver, McGee is still filling in those blanks. In the construction of an NBA center, the Nuggets have started with deconstruction, unraveling some of the bad habits that have marred his young career, now in its fifth season.

"He's growing," said Nuggets assistant coach Melvin Hunt, who works with the team's big men. "Part of his growth is pruning."

Forget dollar signs

The gaudy contract numbers suggest McGee should log more than 19 minutes per game. In fact, of all of the players in the NBA who make $10 million or more this season -- 55 -- only 11 are reserves or part-time starters. And only two, Golden State's Richard Jefferson and Detroit's Corey Maggette, play fewer minutes per night than McGee.

But the Nuggets' organization won't be swayed by dollar signs, no matter how massive they might be. McGee and his representation would have been satisfied with a two-year deal, but the Nuggets pushed for a four-year contract, in part so they wouldn't develop McGee into an upper-echelon player in two years and then have to immediately fight for his services on the free-agent market.

So, McGee toils in the spotlight though getting limited minutes. He remains one of the NBA's premier shot blockers, averaging two per game, and had seen growth in his effect on altering other shots. And he insists he has never been concerned with his playing time, only that he's happy to be with a winning team. He's averaging 10.1 points and 4.9 rebounds, and is shooting .559 from the field.

"I'm just trying to ... make sure that we win games," McGee said. "It's definitely a blessing, being on a winning team. As long as we win, I can't feel any (negative) way about it."

That attitude appeals to Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri, who is putting no pressure on coaches to play McGee any more than they have.

"He's adapted," Ujiri said of McGee. "You get a contract, you're going to feel like, 'I need to get this, I need to start.' But I think he has been pretty patient with everything that has gone on. And I think that's good on his part."

Patience is a word you hear often when talking about McGee with Nuggets officials. When McGee worked with NBA legend Hakeem Olajuwon last summer to improve his game, Olajuwon told a Houston-area television station: "No question, I see him as another star. That guy should dominate the league. He has tremendous talent. I give him all these moves and he can finish and he's already skilled. Now show him how to use that skill to (get) to the next level."

But before McGee gets to the 'skill' part, coaches want him to get the "routine" part down. Karl, who stresses he is impressed with McGee's skill set as well, wants him to be more Tim Duncan and less Latrell Sprewell.

"He's got to understand that lazy-and-crazy isn't going to make it work," Karl said. "We want solid and we want fundamental, and we want spectacular but only when it happens, not forcing the action where sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't."

Paired with wise veteran

When "solid" happens all the time, McGee's minutes will rise. But no one is forcing it. McGee is still thinking through things on the court, and right now that's slowing him down. Hunt said he's ready for McGee to "cut loose" and play instinctively.

"It's hard to be reactionary when you're thinking it through," Hunt said.

The Nuggets have played McGee off the bench in order to keep him paired with veteran point guard Andre Miller, who has a knack for getting players around him wide-open or easy looks. His lob passes to McGee are a signature play of the Nuggets' second unit.

"JaVale is starting to look and play the way we need him to play," Miller said. "Not all the time, but we see glimpses of it. I think he'll make another step. There's less of those scratch-your-head moments and more of those 'now that's what I'm talking about' moments.

"He can be a dominant player, if given the chance. Right now, we've kind of got him on a string. He's up and down, so we're trying to get some consistency with him. He can do it. It's just a matter of the people around him having the confidence to let him go out there, make his mistakes and play through them. I think he's headed in a good direction."

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